HATS OFF

Britney and her mother, Lynne Spears (in New York in December), kept up their close ties in 2004. In her Thanksgiving letter to fans posted on her Web site, Britney praised Lynne as a "Supermom": "Living in a small town can make it so easy to just follow the mold and go along with how everyone else does things," she wrote. "But my mom managed to set her own course and not get corrupted into doing things like all the other women."